I have been gifted ceaseless answers to soul queries.
Sages invite me to meditate inside abiding stillness.
Gurus anoint my healing hands like Jesus
gently laying them on a hurting friend, trusting, honoring
and I think about Dominican teachers
praying for spring to rise from their winter interior
praying in their cells, in a trance of boundless hope
Yet no matter how I contemplate, imitate, recall their advice
I still can only become quiet for a few eternal moments
then my eyes open to an immortal blush of gold on the leaves outside
feel the last glimmer of warmth as a cold wind huffs in from the north
I then come back to the sitting, to the here, to the now
and a family of pigeons sing endlessly from their fir-tree tower
No matter how I contemplate their words deep in my day
I am invited back into this infinite world, grateful that undying fire
grateful that forever desire to look in awe has not left my eyes.
Marianne Lyon has been a music teacher for 39 years. After teaching in Hong Kong, she returned to the Napa Valley and has been published in various literary magazines and reviews. Nominated for the Pushcart Award 2016. She has also taught in Nicaragua. She is a member of the California Writers Club, Healdsburg Literary Guild. She is an Adjunct Professor at Touro University, Vallejo California.
